In the prior art, gas powered guns or markers are well known in the art. In general these devices include a supply of gas that fills a chamber which is then emptied to launch a projectile, namely, a paintball. Valving is typically provided in the marker to control the flow of gas therein. In the prior art, electrically operated solenoid valves and mechanical valves have been employed for this purpose. One example of such a mechanical valve used in paintball markers is a “spool” valve. These are so well known that they need not be discussed in detail herein.
Gas within a marker not only provides power for launching a projectile but also is commonly used to control loading and launching of the projectile. In other words, gas can also be used to control bolt movement within a marker to, in turn, control position of a paintball. There are number of prior art patents that use this concept. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,035,843 and 5,613,483 both use the existing gas supply for bolt control. In these sample prior art systems, a unitary bolt construction is used for the dual purpose of controlling flow of gas to a storage chamber to serve as the power to launch the projectile and as well as serving as a conventional bolt that moves the projectile to a launch position while preventing additional projectiles from entering the breech.
Essentially, the prior art bolt unitary constructions have a standard bolt at one end and a gas control at the opposing end. The bolt reciprocates back and forth within the marker. With the appropriate timing, gas fills the appropriate chamber within the bolt assembly when the bolt construction is rearwardly positioned. When the bolt moves forward, the paintball is moved forward into a launching position. This forward motion causes the appropriate passageways within the marker to open so that the stored gas is released behind the paintball so that it can be launched.
While these prior bolt constructions effectively control gas flow and launching of a paintball, they suffer from many disadvantages. These prior art bolt designs do not allow for the isolation of supply gas from the first chamber during the firing/launching step and to allow refilling of the gas storage chamber during re-loading. Since the bolt portion and the gas flow control portion, at the opposing end, are connected to each other, they reciprocate together resulting in a bolt assembly that is always imbalanced within the marker. Also, each time these parts hit the end of their travel they impart energy into the body and cause it to “rock” around its centre of inertia. This undesirably results in a noticeably recoil and click each time the bolt reciprocates back and forth.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need to improve a marker construction to eliminate or reduce recoil associated with paintball markers and other gas powered projectile launchers. There is also a need to provide a bolt system that is balanced during operation. There is a further need for a marker that is self-timed to avoid misfirings. Also, there is a need to isolate the supply gas from the rest of the gas chambers within the marker.